Happy Sunday to all of our travel friends, both near and far. Here are some articles we’ve read from other bloggers (and other sources) that we think you may like, as well, so we’re passing them along.
- Las Vegas is open for business. The fountains at the Bellagio are running again and some of the casinos are willing to take your money. After the gaming commission released strict safety guidelines, you’d think that casinos and guests would take the requirements of social distancing, mask-wearing and hand washing/sanitizing seriously. It looks like that might not be the case, as evidenced by Shawn from Miles to Memories who visited on Vegas’ re-opening night. This is the reason we’re so hesitant to travel right now.
- One of the biggest annoyances when booking award flights using miles is still having to pay the taxes and fees on the ticket. The most useless of these charges is the flight surcharge, which is nothing more than an extra amount added to a ticket. Depending on the airline, these costs can run from hundreds to thousands of dollars per ticket. ANA has reduced these fees on many of its flights to just $1, presumably to stimulate interest in booking flights to Japan. ANA is our favorite airline to fly to Japan, so I hope these low fees stay in place until I need to rebook our trip for 2021.
- During the peak of the coronavirus, no one really knew much about how it spread. Airlines tried to eliminate as many touchpoints and interactions between employees and passengers as possible so many of them, Southwest Airlines included, did away with any in-flight refreshment service. Given, Southwest’s service was limited anyway but there was no complimentary beverage and pretzels on flights. Now that they know a little more and had the chance to put additional safety measures in place, Southwest is bringing back some of its inflight services on flights over 250 miles. It’s not much, but it’s a start.
- Sharon and I love staying at hotels that are in repurposed buildings. They have a distinct look that isn’t like the cookie-cutter approach that often comes with hotel design [Note from Sharon: I’d love to stay in one of these someday]. You know that the designers had to look at every space and decide how they were going to use it. The Kimpton Gray in Chicago used to be an insurance office and part of the Westin Dublin was the former Allied Irish Bank. I was very interested when I saw that Hyatt is going to turn the old Cook County Hospital in Chicago into a combo Hyatt House/Hyatt Place. The hospital was built in 1914 and has been closed for 20 years. While I had no problems staying at an old insurance office or bank, do I want to stay in a renovated hospital? Maybe I’ve just been watching too many ghost shows on TV.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
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